What is it about?
In the nineteenth century, people suffering from tuberculosis traveled to sunnier, warmer climates to ease their symptoms. So did people who had mental exhaustion. While the mental exhaustion sufferers usually got better, the tuberculosis sufferers usually did not. These outcomes helped shape the modern vacation mindset, which equates downtime with rest and renewal rather than strict medical treatments.
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Why is it important?
This study explains how vacationing went from a medical activity to a pleasure activity. In 1800, travel for pleasure was quite rare. By 1900, it was commonplace. It is tempting to say that people simply learned to let their hair down, and that is part of the equation for sure. But more importantly, people's perceptions of disease changed, and this in turn changed how they defined entertainment and how they chose to enjoy themselves while traveling away from home.
Perspectives
The most interesting part of writing this article for me was pulling together the medical research on how climate affects health. Although most of this research has long been rejected, it is fascinating to me how important climate and weather still are to people when they choose a vacation destination.
Ric Morris
Middle Tennessee State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Victorian ‘Change of Air’ as medical and social construction, Journal of Tourism History, January 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/1755182x.2018.1425485.
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